Vasant Panchami: Lilavati's Lament at the Feast of Spring
Go, dragon-fly, fold up your purple wing,Why will you bring me tidings of the spring?O lilting koels, hush your rapturous notes,O dhadikulas, still your passionate throats,Or seek some further garden for your nest . . .Your songs are poisoned arrows in my breast.
O quench your flame, ye crimson gulmohors,That flaunt your dazzling bloom across my doors,Furl your white bells, sweet champa buds that callWild bees to your ambrosial festival,And hold your breath, O dear sirisha trees . . .You slay my heart with bitter memories.
O joyous girls who rise at break of mornWith sandal-soil your thresholds to adorn,Ye brides who streamward bear on jewelled feetYour gifts of silver lamps and new-blown wheat,I pray you dim your voices when you singYour radiant salutations to the spring.
Hai! what have I to do with nesting birds,With lotus-honey, corn and ivory curds,With plantain blossom and pomegranate fruit,Or rose-wreathed lintels and rose-scented lute,With lighted shrines and fragrant altar-firesWhere happy women breathe their hearts' desires?
For my sad life is doomed to be, alas,Ruined and sere like sorrow-trodden grass,My heart hath grown, plucked by the wind of grief,Akin to fallen flower and faded leaf,Akin to every lone and withered thingThat hath foregone the kisses of the spring.
Words in this poem
- flaunt n.
- Anything displayed for show.
- furl v. t.
- To draw up or gather into close compass; to wrap or roll, as a sail, close to the yard, stay, or mast, or, as a flag, close to or around its staff, securing it there by a gasket or line. Totten. [Contr. fr. furdle, fr. fardel bundle: cf. F. ferler to furl, OF. fardeler to pack. See Furdle, Fardel, and cf. Farl.]
- ambrosial a.
- Consisting of, or partaking of the nature of, ambrosia; delighting the taste or smell; delicious.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- sere n.
- Claw; talon. Chapman. [F. serre.]
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Vasant Panchami: Lilavati's Lament at the Feast of Spring is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Bird of Time: Songs of Life, Death & the Spring (London: William Heinemann; New York: John Lane Company, 1912), Wikisource; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Sarojini Naidu, Vasant Panchami: Lilavati's Lament at the Feast of Spring, in The Bird of Time: Songs of Life, Death & the Spring (1912), text of Wikisource, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/naidu-bird-of-time/vasant-panchami.html, id L27530.
Form and metre
Vasant Panchami: Lilavati's Lament at the Feast of Spring is 30 lines in 5 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABBCC. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABBCC wingA · springA · notesB · throatsB · nestC · breastC
- 2 AABBCC gulmohorsA · doorsA · callB · festivalB · treesC · memoriesC
- 3 AABBCC mornA · adornA · feetB · wheatB · singC · springC
- 4 AABBCC birdsA · curdsA · fruitB · luteB · firesC · desiresC
- 5 AABBCC alasA · grassA · griefB · leafB · thingC · springC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Go, dragon-fly, fold up your purple wing, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Why will you bring me tidings of the spring? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| O lilting koels, hush your rapturous notes, | 10 | ·/˘···/˘˘· |
| O dhadikulas, still your passionate throats, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Or seek some further garden for your nest . . . | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Your songs are poisoned arrows in my breast. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| O quench your flame, ye crimson gulmohors, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| That flaunt your dazzling bloom across my doors, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Furl your white bells, sweet champa buds that call | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Wild bees to your ambrosial festival, | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘˘ |
| And hold your breath, O dear sirisha trees . . . | 10 | ·········· |
| You slay my heart with bitter memories. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| O joyous girls who rise at break of morn | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| With sandal-soil your thresholds to adorn, | 10 | ·/˘··/··˘/ |
| Ye brides who streamward bear on jewelled feet | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Your gifts of silver lamps and new-blown wheat, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| I pray you dim your voices when you sing | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Your radiant salutations to the spring. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Hai! what have I to do with nesting birds, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| With lotus-honey, corn and ivory curds, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| With plantain blossom and pomegranate fruit, | 9 | ·/˘/˘·/˘· |
| Or rose-wreathed lintels and rose-scented lute, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| With lighted shrines and fragrant altar-fires | 11 | ·/˘··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Where happy women breathe their hearts' desires? | 11 | ·/˘/˘···˘/˘ |
| For my sad life is doomed to be, alas, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Ruined and sere like sorrow-trodden grass, | 10 | /˘···/˘/˘· |
| My heart hath grown, plucked by the wind of grief, | 10 | ·········· |
| Akin to fallen flower and faded leaf, | 10 | ˘/·/˘/·/˘· |
| Akin to every lone and withered thing | 10 | ˘/·/˘··/˘· |
| That hath foregone the kisses of the spring. | 10 | ··//·/˘··· |
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